What Was the Japanese “Economic Miracle?”

During World War II Japan engaged in war as an allied of the Nazi armies, and it counted with a strategic position to control the pacific. Its government, militarized and power thirsty started expanding its sovereignty around Southeast Asia and the Manchurian peninsula in China. But it was not until the attack on the American military base, Pearl Harbor, that the Japanese where condemn to suffer the consequences of pacific war. In the aftermath of the war Japan suffered from the first and only atomic bombing attack, massive allied bombings, and major starvation of its people. The country was in ruined; the collapsed government had drained all its resources in war. Consequently, the economic situation was at the will of the allied powers’ occupation. The old ruling military power was trailed and convicted, thousands of pro imperial japan bureaucrats were band from participating in politics as wells as business. The country was in ruins and its people devastated by one the worst atomic attack in history. Moreover, the United States saw Japan as an important ally in the Pacific, and its objectives toward Japan changed; it consisted in ensuring economic growth and political stabilization. Therefore, in the following decades what became known as the Japanese “economic miracle” was accelerated economic development to the point where Japan was competing as a world wide economic power. It caught up with western industrialized countries. Yet, what conditions allowed Japan’s economic situation to skyrocket after World War II’s devastating effects? In the following paragraphs the reasons behind Japan’s successful recovery are going to be discussed, from the starting point right after Japan’s surrender until the 1990’s economic stagnation. Japan’s economic miracle is in part a consequence of the politics that governed post-war Japan. Right after Imperial Japan surrender, the Supreme Commander for the allied Powers (SCAP)...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...The Japanese post-war economicmiracle is the name given to the historical phenomenon of Japan's record period of economic growth following World War II, spurred mainly by United States investment but partly by Japanese government economic interventionism in particular through their Ministry of International Trade and Industry. The distinguishing characteristics of the Japanese economy during the "economicmiracle" years included: the cooperation of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and banks in closely knit groups called keiretsu; the powerful enterprise unions and shuntō; cozy relations with government bureaucrats, and the guarantee of lifetime employment (shūshin koyō) in big corporations and highly unionized blue-collar factories. Since 1993, Japanese companies have begun to abandon some of these norms in an attempt to increase profitability and efficiency.Contents [hide]
[edit]
American contributions
In the mid- to late-1940's, wartime expenses threatened economic ruin in Japan. Post-war inflation, unemployment and shortages in all areas seemed overwhelming. Japan’s immediate economic improvement was not achieved on its own. The American government, under the auspices of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP), played a crucial role in Japan’s initial...

...The Japaneseeconomicmiracle is so termed because of Japan’s phenomenal economic growth rates after World War 2, from 1950s to early 1990s, where in the 1950s to 1970s, Japan achieved one of the highest economic growth rates in the world. Although ravaged by the war, Japan’s gross national product returned to its pre-war levels in just six years, 1951, and within two decades, Japan progressed from a ‘less-developed country’ to a ‘developed’ one. The economicmiracle can be attributed to American input brought about by its security requirements; but it would not be the main driver of Japan’s growth, because its impact on Japan’s economy decreased over the years. The reason why Japan manage to undergo sustained growth over the few decades, would then be due to the effectiveness of the Japanese government, who had the ability to direct the trajectory of economic growth through the policies it implements.
The Japaneseeconomicmiracle is certainly partly attributed to American security requirements, because it can be seen as a catalyst that ignited growth. The global context during Japan’s phenomenal revival was the Cold War rivalry between USA and USSR, and thus USA had lots of security requirements globally in a bid to contain communism and safeguard themselves and their allies. Japan...

...To what extent has the East Asian economicmiracle relaxed tensions between the regional powers?
During 1960 to 1990, East Asia experienced a huge transformation in its economic development which is now widely referred to as the East Asian economicmiracle. This was largely a result of the growth of eight economies known as the high-performing Asian economies, hereinafter HPAEs. These comprised Japan, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, and the three newly industrialised economies (NIEs) which were Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Prior to the 1960s, tensions between the regional powers were relatively high, which was evidently the result of several major events including the Sino-Japanese war, the wars between Japan and Russia and Japan and Korea and the invasion and colonisation of certain regions. After 1960, however, a radical adjustment in the interactions between these regional powers developed, arguably as a result of the creation of organisations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. This illustrates a significant relaxation of tensions which effectively promoted economic, social and cultural co-operation between the member states.[1] Nevertheless, the extent to which such tensions have diminished is questionable, especially in light of the effects of both the Cold War...

...Capitalism and the EconomicMiracle
The global triumph of capitalism was the most important historical issue of the nineteenth century. It was the triumph of a kind of society that believed in the fact that economic development was based on competitive private enterprise and the success of buying as much as possible from the market. It was considered that an economy resting on the solid foundations of the middle class, would not only create a world of properly distributed wealth, but also it would educate people, develop reasoning and increase human opportunity. Summarizing, a world of continuous and rapid material and moral development. The few obstacles that remained in the path of this development would rapidly be solved or overcome. The history of this period is characterized by a massive breakthrough in the global economy of industrial capitalism. Certain regions of the world beyond capitalism were put under pressure by the capitalist countries who tried to gain insight in their economies by opening new markets, these regions were forced to choose between a determined resistance towards capitalism in accordance to their traditions and ways of life or a modernization process which would bring different cultural changes.
Given this logic, Japan was during the mid-nineteenth century under pressure from the foreign powers and the crisis of their system...

...Sino Japanese Relations in the 20th Century
Relations between China and Japan are contradictory; they both rely heavily on each other economically, but they are distrustful of each other and there are huge cultural and political tensions between them. Japan helped provide infrastructure that allowed for the rapid industrialization of China, and if it were not for all of the foreign trade opportunities in China, Japan’s economy could have collapsed. At the same time however, China is still offended by the massive massacres and inhumane acts committed by the Japanese. Japan’s government is also very weary, and almost threatened, by China’s continuing growth economically, politically, and militarily. Despite the fact that China and Japan rely on each other economically and are so similar culturally, relations remain tense because of unresolved historical issues.
The relationship between China and Japan really began to sour after Japan became industrial and imperialistic during the mid nineteenth century. This period, known as the Meiji restoration, changed Japan from a feudal society to a more capitalist one. Japan’s military was also greatly strengthened during this time, and taking after the British and other western ideas, began to occupy China. This led to the First Sino-Japanese war in 1894. At the time, China was still relatively weak and a very primitive country compared to the new imperial...

...States all attained high levels of income per capita by shifting from agrarian-based production to manufacturing and technologically sophisticated service sector activity.
Still, there are four distinctive features of Japan's development through industrialization that merit discussion:
The proto-industrial base
Japan's agricultural productivity was high enough to sustain substantial craft (proto-industrial) production in both rural and urban areas of the country prior to industrialization.
Investment-led growth
Domestic investment in industry and infrastructure was the driving force behind growth in Japanese output. Both private and public sectors invested in infrastructure, national and local governments serving as coordinating agents for infrastructure build-up.
* Investment in manufacturing capacity was largely left to the private sector.
* Rising domestic savings made increasing capital accumulation possible.
* Japanese growth was investment-led, not export-led.
Total factor productivity growth -- achieving more output per unit of input -- was rapid.
On the supply side, total factor productivity growth was extremely important. Scale economies -- the reduction in per unit costs due to increased levels of output -- contributed to total factor productivity growth. Scale economies existed due to geographic concentration, to growth of the...

...
The Meiji Miracle
By
Alexander Webb Murfee
Modern World History 3HP
Woodward Academy
March 27, 2012
Throughout history, there have been many instances of a change in a culture because of foreign influence. Many times, these changes bring about positive modernization resulting from influences from a more advanced civilization. Nineteenth century Japan is a prime example of persuasion from a foreign power. After the American, Commodore Perry, entered Japan demanding extended rights for American sailors, Japanese society completely turned inside out and adopted Western influences. However, to completely understand these changes, there must be a full understanding of Japanese society starting with the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu began to complete the unification of Japan. Finally in 1600, he completed his work and established the Tokugawa Shogunate which lasted for two-hundred sixty-five years. Ieyasu constructed his government headquarters in Edo, now named Tokyo. The Japanese social classes, which had been in place long before Ieyasu, were made even more strict and nearly impossible to move up or down a social class. The top social class was the Samurai and the Daimyos, who were the regional lords of specific areas of Japan. Only the Samurai and the Daimyos had special...

...﻿
ECONOMICS
the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.
the social science that studies economic activity to gain an understanding of the processes that govern the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in an exchange economy.
SCARCITY: THE NEED TO CHOOSE
Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human wants in a world of limited resources. It states that society has insufficient productive resources to fulfill all human wants and needs. A common misconception on scarcity is that an item has to be important for it to be scarce. However, this is not true, for something to be scarce, it has to be hard to obtain, hard to create, or both. Simply put, the production cost of something determines if it is scarce or not. For example, although air is more important to us than diamonds, it is cheaper simply because the production cost of air is zero. Diamonds on the other hand have a high production cost. They have to be found and processed, both which require a lot of money. Additionally, scarcity implies that not all of society's goals can be pursued at the same time;trade-offs are made of one good against others.
The basic economic problem that arises because people have unlimited wants but resources are limited. Because of scarcity, various economic decisions must be made to allocate resources...